And, of course, everyone knows about Old Spice’s “Man You Could Smell Like” ad or is aware of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that raised $115 million to fight the rare disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, “winning” in your KPIs is a more difficult process and most “viral” attempts end up as total flops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, when you search for “viral” marketing campaigns you’ll often find little to no results that can actually be put in the “viral” category. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, you’ll come across a bunch of well-recognized brand names with prominent and popular ads. And, you’ll also often see games or SNL ads that mostly became popular due to their entertainment factor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, it’s obvious, marketers & owners want to “tap” into unmatched campaign success. But, why, with so many attempts, don’t we see viral marketing actually living up to its promise? <\/p>\n\n\n
Why you should trust us? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we start a quick message – we’ve helped numerous brands and individuals achieve “viral” status and “viral” campaigns on LinkedIn with some posts having more than a million views with little to no investment. Check out our LinkedIn Influencer program<\/a> or our Case Studies<\/a> to learn more. We just don’t like to brag. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So let’s get into the meat of this. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n Here’s what we are going to discuss: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s get started.<\/p>\n\n\n What is your target customer profile?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you want to achieve virality with everyone or a select group of people? These questions matter when crafting your viral content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The aim of going viral is to drive brand interaction and in this case, new product awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may easily go viral with content that appeals to “everyone,” but how is that going to help your bottom line?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The way to do is to find out what generally resonates the most with your target customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To put it simply, you’re personalizing content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s funny to Generation Z won’t exactly appeal to startup founders aged 21-45. And, professional tech services won’t appeal to everyone in college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s critical that you get your demographic dialed in first before you even start the content creation process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On LinkedIn, if you want to achieve virality, the first 24 hours matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those engagements from your first-degree connections are counted by the LinkedIn algorithm that decides if it’s good enough to show to your third-degree connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same holds true with other social media networks like Facebook where your friend’s friend shares your post, holds a lot of value in getting that post circulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what’s one quick way to get people to drive your product launch to virality?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get them to engage with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now there are a lot of ways to get people to share a post. You can add throw in a raffle for people that share your post (common tactic with Facebook sales pitches,) ask them to comment, give them something for free, have a competition, or our personal favorite, make it so appealing that people have to share it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It could be the story of the brand, the humor behind it, or emotions that people want their connections to experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you understand the demographic you’re vying for, understand the platform you want to launch the campaign in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Understanding where you’ll launch your viral content is highly dependent on your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it’s professional content, use LinkedIn, if it’s aimed at Gen Z, you could use a combination of TikTok and Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The language that you use on different channels matters. When we post article blurbs on different mediums we take into account the general mood of the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, don’t just limit it to that. Remember to…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Content that’s truly viral becomes popular on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Say you’ve decided to go with a video on YouTube. This video now has to be syndicated on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It doesn’t stop there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You want to have it featured in other places such as blogs and maybe your local news website perhaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This helps you build momentum and increases the surface area of what you’re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you’ve released your content: get a pod going to share it, publish it on your monthly newsletter, get people to tweet about it, share it on Facebook and LinkedIn, and host it on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows the same principle as lead generation, you want to have multiple possible touchpoints to connect with your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Statistics have shown that a brand being present on multiple mediums that a prospect uses has a higher chance of achieving brand recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your prospects are people, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, people love stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, everyone is moving from traditional deliberate forms of marketing to storytelling because it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in the day, if you wanted people to learn a lesson or deliver a message, you did it in stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t believe us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Look at all the fables, bedtime stories, gossip, and legends that will still remember from our childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important messages have always been packaged as stories because they’re easier to digest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of brands have gone towards storytelling because it breaks the barrier between entertainment and product awareness. It evokes emotions and makes your product relatable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I use personal stories all the time in my LinkedIn posts and I find that they get substantial engagement because people want to hear about normal people in normal situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s okay to be vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because, everyone has their own vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using emotions allow you to connect with people, especially if you connect them with storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way to achieve virality is to show people raw emotions that people often choose to keep in the sidelines. There’s nothing wrong with sadness, excitement, fear, anger, loss, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These are things that everyone feels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We like using emotion because it gets to the meat of the message, and we’ve seen a lot of people use it spread awareness whether it’s for causes, brands, or products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s a campaign that used emotion to go appeal to people and go viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\nUnderstanding Your Customers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Get People to Engage<\/strong> With You<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Know the Demographics of Your Platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Use a Multidimensional Approach to Virality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Tell a Personal Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Emotions Help Make You Relatable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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